Motivate Yourself to Impress How to Make ‘Em Love Ya’ and Pick Ya’!: College Students’ Guide to Getting Hired

By Katrika Sterling-Hamilton

Motivate Yourself to Impress
—Have you ever felt lost about what to say on a job interview?
—Have you thought you knew what to say but had a nervous breakdown during the interview process?

Studies show that one out of two individuals on job interviews made poor mistakes that cost them the position. Another 19 percent of applicants felt they slipped up when writing their resumes and cover letters.

Look no further!

If you are one of the millions of individuals that struggle with interviewing skills, this book is for you!

How would you like to know the secrets to getting hired the first time on a job interview?

This volume is packed with real-world examples from a range of clinical settings and sample interactions to help you land your dream career.

This book teaches you the following:
—How to sharpen your interviewing skills
—How to write strong resumes and cover letters
—How to improve your communication skill productivity by 500 percent with how and what to say at your next job interview
—How to answer those tough interview questions

If you are ready to learn and dominate your next job interview, this book is a must.

Let me be your guide to you hearing the two words you want to hear from your next job interview: “You’re hired!”

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 4, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514459577

Katrika Sterling-Hamilton

Author Katrika Sterling Hamilton has been employed at Miami Dade College as a speech professor for over sixteen years. She conducts training/presentations on money management, college survival skills, public speaking skills, resume techniques and development, student life empowerment, effective business communication, professional dress for corporate success, and mental preparation for job interviews, plus much more. In addition, she has served as a communication consultant and facilitated workshops for the FL Department of Children and Family, Children’s Services Council, and Women in Distress of Broward County, to name a few.

Book preview

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1-DO YOU HAVE A W.I.T. MENTALITY

OUR THOUGHTS

POWERFUL THOUGHTS EQUALS POWERFUL IDEAS:

A JOB OR A CAREER?

BITS AND PIECES COMING TOGETHER

DIFFERENT STROKES

FREE YOUR MIND

EASIER SAID THAN DONE!

IMPRESSIVE PROFILE

A W.I.T ASSESSMENT

CHAPTER REFLECTION

CHAPTER 2-BRIDGING THE GAP

GAPS BETWEEN INSTITUTIONS - STUDENTS ETC.

THE PATHWAY FORWARD

COLLEGE SKILLS CONNECTION

WHAT EVERY COLLEGE STUDENT NEEDS TO KNOW

THE FUTURE IN S.T.E.M. CAREERS

THE U.S. PRESIDENT – LEARNING INSTITUTIONS & STEM

THE TOP 10 REASONS TO CHOOSE A STEM MAJOR:

DETAILED STEM UNDERGRADUATE MAJORS

DISCOVER 9 COLLEGE MAJORS FOR THE FUTURE

WHAT BUSINESS GRADUATES NEED TO KNOW

MISTAKES COLLEGE GRADUATES MAKE WHEN SEEKING JOBS

HOW TO STAND OUT

CHAPTER 3-SAY IT LIKE THIS!

YOUR PRODUCT AND PHILOSOPHY

80 INTERVIEW QUESTIONS & ANSWERS:

Q & As ABOUT SELF

Q & As ABOUT THE INDUSTRY

Q & As ABOUT THE COMPANY

Q & As ABOUT YOUR ACADEMIC TRAINING

Q & As ABOUT CAREER GOALS

SUSTAINABILITY Q & As

Q & As ABOUT YOUR IDEAL CAREER

COMMUNITY WORK ENVIRONMENT - Q & As:

Q & As ABOUT CUSTOMERS

QUESTIONS CONCERNING VIOLATIONS, CONVICTIONS & TERMINATION

QUESTIONS CONCERNING SPECIAL NEEDS POPULATIONS

QUESTIONS FOR SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS/DEAF COMMUNITY

SOME DO’S AND DON’TS AS A SLT

OFF THE WALL QUESTIONS:

Q & As ABOUT SALARY:

CHAPTER 4-YOU’VE GOT MAIL!

YOUR COVER LETTER

SAMPLE COVER LETTER CIVIL ENGINEER

PARALEGAL ASSISTANT

REGISTERED NURSE

COMPUTER ARTS ANIMATION

SAMPLE COVER LETTER CRIMINOLOGIST

COMPUTER ENGINEER

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR

FINANCIAL BANKER

COMPUTER INFORMATION SYSTEMS

RESUMES TIPS

SAMPLE RESUME

SAMPLE SCHOLARSHIP RESUME

THANK YOU LETTER

Acknowledgements

I dedicate this book to my mother Ruthlyn Rowe Harvey, who died from breast cancer at age 42. She was truly the wind beneath my wings. Although her death was untimely, I made her a promise to leave my mark on the world. I honor her memory and the many sacrifices she made; her death ultimately propelled my professional education and career. To my father Dudley Romer, I honor you. I also dedicate this book to my husband and companion Andrew Hamilton, children Ramah and Elijah, and to the many students who have inspired me to take my teaching beyond the classroom.

My faith also inspires me. I thank the Lord for giving me the strength to accomplish this project. I hope this book will inspire students, professors, employees and employers. We live in a world where you have to be willing to go beyond the norm if you are going to leave a mark. I hope I have accomplished this.

Thank you to my siblings, Camille Williams, Jose Spurgeon, and Brittany and Tracie Harvey for your prayers and encouragement. Special thanks to Professor Susan Lichtman and Celia Grell for proofing and editing my work. It was hard work creating a better flow. Finally, thank you Apostle Steve Lyston for encouraging me to write my first book. Words are not enough to extend my profound gratitude for all your encouragement, support, and words of wisdom.

Any views or opinions presented in this book are solely those of the author. The informational questions, answers, resume’s and cover letters are hypothetical responses. They only serve as a guide. I recommend that readers conduct additional research as it pertains to your desired career field. The author is not responsible for any inaccuracy.

Foreword

Professor Katrika Sterling-Hamilton, despite her youth, is a venerable educator, enlightening both her students and colleagues on how to more effectively present their ideas and themselves in academia. Her experience and expertise in the business world and in the college classroom inform this helpful, informative and entertaining handbook on how to get the job of one’s dreams.

This book is more than just a bag of tricks or a collection of dry, outdated tips that would have perhaps worked in the 20th century. This particular book enables its readers to get a realistic view of the ever-changing job market of the 21st century, making clear the point that one must adapt and see the interview from the standpoint of those who hire the prospective employer.

Although this handbook instructs, it entertains as well. Professor Sterling-Hamilton makes good use of pop culture to illustrate the character traits, skills sets and training that prospective employees must have to obtain their professional goals. She invites her readers to engage their imagination, to think creatively and to focus on their goals. She helps her readers to see that there are specific, feasible things that they can say and do to impress their potential employers and therefore enhance their chances of getting the job of their dreams.

This handy book provides a sort of road map that will help people who are entering the job market (and those who are considering finding a new career path) to navigate their way through the job seeking process—from writing the resume to performing well in the interview. The book is a sort of mini-course, the type of course that is both instructive and enjoyable.

Ronald E. Walker, Associate Professor Senior

Department of English & Communications

Miami Dade College, North Campus

Introduction

You’ve got to commit yourself to an act or vision that pulls you further than you want to go and forces you to use your hidden strengths. - John Johnson

I was born in Freeport, Bahamas and migrated here in the 1980s. I attended Miami Gardens Elementary School and transferred to Carol City Senior High School (a tough school, by-the-way). I wasn’t raised with a silver spoon in my mouth. My father was a hardworking man, and he was and very strict. My father was the type of man who was going to make sure that we did what we were supposed to do. To tell you the truth, his belt intimated me. I thank God for him and because of his sternness, I was able to keep my eyes on my cheese. Spencer (1998) in his book, Who Moved My Cheese, says we each have an idea of what ‘cheese’ is and we pursue it because we believe that it makes us happy. If we get it we often become attached to it. If we lose it, or if it’s taken away, it can be traumatic. Since you are holding this book, I can tell you are on a quest for your cheese. With my help, YOU will find your cheese. Cheese represents finding your voice, your dream job, the right mate and/or success in the corporate and private sectors. Spencer’s book discusses four characters that fought their way through a maze in order to locate their cheese. This book will help you navigate through the employment arena so you can land your dream job. Can you smell your cheese? How does it look? What does you career opportunity look like? Is it bite sized, small, large, or beyond what your mind can conceive? Do you have a road map to guide you to your job success? Do you have a mentor? This book can serve as a roadmap and a mentor to your success.

So I left the Bahamas and came to Miami when I was about eight years old. I didn’t know my life would be a quest for ‘my cheese.’ I never had things easy. I am a product of the harsh field life in the Bahamas; I learned to pick potatoes, to plant corn, and to catch chickens. I also learned the pain of being rejected and even the horror of having my innocence taken at a very young age. You name it, I have experienced it for the most part, but it didn’t make me weak. I learned and survived it all. I like what poet/author Langston Hughes says in one of his greatest pieces Mother to Son:

"Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters

And boards tore up,

And places with no carpet on the floor

Bare.

I think many people can relate to these words. Life is a challenge and it gets difficult, but it also can be good. I saw my mother telling the same things Langston depicts in this poem. Have you ever had a parent who beat now and asked questions later? HELLO! My mother-Ruthlyn Rowe Harvey (affectionately known as Bev) was going to make sure I attended college. She didn’t want me to get attached to materialistic things, and getting pregnant was not going to happen in the Harvey household. My mother raised five children on her own without a man being present. She loved the Lord Jesus Christ. He kept her sane even when life seemed to go from one storm cloud to another. She was the greatest role model, doctor, nurse; you name it, my mother was it. She didn’t have a formal education, but she had wisdom. I am sure many of you can relate to this based on how your parents raised you. I learned through her pain, problems, heartbreak and yes, the cancer that eroded her body, that life is whatever you make of it. You have to determine in your mind that you are created for something greater and that your eyes have not seen it yet; neither has it entered into your soul the things the Lord has in store for YOU! She would say, Baby, this too will pass. That really kept me alive after she died.

My mother was a woman who wore an armor that not even cancer could penetrate. Ruthlyn was the greatest no-nonsense woman who made sure I kept my head on straight and into the books. In her native Jamaica she didn’t have it easy; she had to quit school to help out with the household chores and bills. However, although she didn’t have a formal education, we never went hungry. My mother would say, "I don’t have the money to send anyone to college; you have to get there the old fashioned way. So I kept my head in the books and made sure to earn grades that would make colleges want to look at me. I graduated from Miami Carol City Senior High with a 4.0 GPA. I wanted to show my mother that what she invested in me was going to be realized in the next generation. Colleges and universities from all over started writing to me from Cornell University and Stanford University, to the University of Miami and Florida State University. I didn’t know what to do. I could pick, choose, and refuse. I chose Miami Dade College simply because of its location and mission. The key words that stood out in its mission statement were accessible, affordable, and high quality education" while keeping students at the center of the decision-making process. I knew I was headed in the right direction.

Today, I am a professor, sought-after motivational speaker, pastor, communication consultant, and now, author. As a result of my professional experiences, networking opportunities, failures and successes, I write this book to edify, share, and empower students, teachers, practitioners, and organizations with successful ideas, tips, strategies, and practices for employment purposes. There are four guiding principles to this book, outlined as follows:

1. Develop An Impressive Outlook

An impressive outlook allows students to see their future from a different cultural perspective. These days, a good job is hard to find. But that won’t be a decent excuse for a slim résumé when you’re sitting across from an employment recruiter next year. Like it or not, college students are expected to be capable of pulling good grades in tough classes while gaining professional experience on the side.

2. Develop An Impressive Appetite

The statement, "you are what you eat," really is true. Partying, drinking, and having lots of fun can slowly create an obstacle between you and your dream - you become handicapped to what you must face. Before you know it, five years have gone by and you are still at the starting line. Then you lose interest and something else takes up all your time. It is difficult to get back into the game if you can’t remember the players. Therefore, research programs, networking events and continuing education in your specific field should be fundamental. Do you read educational books? Do you attend seminars? Do you provide voluntary service to certain organizations that can open the door to a potentially permanent relationship?

3. Develop An Impressive Vision

Rather than having a macro perspective, the student with an impressive vision looks within and begins to uncover his or her unique gifts and qualities. The student quickly understands that his or her ability will separate them from the pack or they’ll get left behind. Their vision is so immense that they always have their heads stuck in the clouds. That student senses there must be more and like a mouse in a maze, begins the search. It is that drive and desire that helps create a connecting bridge to their purpose and allows them to propel into places they can only dream of.

4. Develop An Impressive Mindset

The United Negro College Fund’s motto, established in 1944 states, A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Don’t be afraid to dream big dreams. Take advantage of what your college campus and even this country have to offer and then pursue it with intensified zeal. Seek knowledge, don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it and listen; you don’t need to know it all, but find someone who can help to direct your path. Remember, your thoughts are connected to what you say verbally. Develop an attitude of excellence that distinguishes you from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

I have taught for over fifteen years at Miami Dade College and two years part-time at Nova Southeastern University. I have been exposed to countless situations where students became frustrated because of a presentational flop or when they had a job interview and were not able to articulate clearly. So if that’s you, welcome to the club! I was one of those floppers. College students are graduating at an alarming rate but not necessarily getting hired into their particular field. The National Association of Colleges and Employers survey (2009) reports college students are leaving campuses with fewer jobs in hand than their 2008 counterparts. The group’s 2009 student survey found that just 19.7 percent of 2009 graduates who applied for a job actually had one. Can you believe that? Finally, with future careers leading into the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, students will need to be able to compete for top jobs. But don’t worry; I am convinced that Motivate Yourself to Impress will help you connect the dots before, during and after the interview, along with helping you understand some of the current changes happening in Corporate America.

The purpose of this book is to help college students acquire lasting career opportunities. It is also geared towards educational facilities and the role they play in preparing 21st century workers. Book knowledge is one thing, but application and strategy are critical to breaking through the doors of corporate America. Presenting what you have learned in the classroom through service learning or internship programs will double your chances of getting hired by a company. In this book, you will learn five fundamentals to help prepare you for your dream job:

1. YOUR thinking can make you or break you

2. YOU have to transition from the classroom to the corporate boardroom

3. YOU are the product

4. YOU will learn the tips, strategies and techniques for corporate success

5. YOU will be empowered!

Your end result will be summed up in three words: You are hired! You will discover the latent potential inside of you. Your voice needs to be heard. Your ideas need to be taken into consideration. Your presence and what you have to offer will not be denied.

Chapter 1

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HAVE A W.I.T. MENTALITY

Whatever I tell my mind, it will perform - K. Sterling-Hamilton

What does W.I.T. mean? Do you have a Whatever It Takes (W.I.T.) mentality? Are you a willing, intuitive, tenacious individual that is able to compete in corporate America? Alan J. Kelly, president of ExxonMobil’s Fuels and Lubricants Division, suggests that in order for college students to compete they have to do the following:

• Know Yourself - Kelly stresses the importance of self-awareness when making decisions and figuring out next steps. Many opportunities may look attractive, but some (National Association and Colleges and Employers, 2009) are ill-advised because they may not fit your personal philosophy or within the context of your larger life plan.

• Work to Build Capacities - Kelly urges college students to develop a variety of marketable skills and talents that will enable them to compete in this increasingly competitive global environment. He drives home the point that being good is not good enough anymore.

• Develop Influencing Skills - Alan Kelly explains to students that collaboration and relationship-building are two crucial skills in today’s corporate landscape. He adds that almost no one works in isolation and a person’s ability to effectively work in a